“Nooo!” Leoma screamed as her
stomach dropped and she felt the harsh wind hitting down upon her.
She gasped for air as her hair came whipping at her face, and the
darkness swallowed her up until she was unable to see anything at
all. Her hands started flapping wildly at her sides as she flexed her
fingers searching for something to grasp.

It seemed as though she had been falling for ages
until suddenly she landed on her back, smacking onto something hard,
yet fuzzy. She laid there dazed and horrified as to what had just
happened. What HAD happened? Trying to comprehend, she wondered out
loud, “where am I?” A deep booming voice ripped through
the silence off her thoughts in reply saying, “Well let’s
see…currently it seems you are…hmm… LYING ON TOP
OF ME!” Surprised by the thunderous voice, Leoma sat up and
tightly gripped what seemed to be the long carpet she had fallen
upon. “Ouch!” yelped the voice, “would you stop
it?!” Leoma strained her eyes to see into the darkness and find
the source of the threatening voice. As she sat there in shock,
suddenly all the Earth began to shake, slow at first, but as Leoma
squeezed the carpet for support, the thrashing became faster and
stronger, until it became so rapid she simply couldn’t hold on
anymore. She flew through the air and her body was thrust down hard
from the pull of gravity, onto hard, damp, cold, dirt. Coughing and
trying to control herself, Leoma slowly edged into a sitting position
and stared into the blackness that surrounded her. Gradually she
pulled herself together, remembering the un-welcoming voice, she
decided to speak. “What was that? An earthquake?” Coming
from her left, the voice chucked and replied, “No my silly
human, that was I, Aldwyn. You were squishing me to death, I had to
do something to get you off, since apparently you don’t
understand the phrase, ‘you are lying on top of me’ or
‘ouch, would you get off?’ Sorry if I hurt you.”
Leoma had been so preoccupied with the mystery of what was happening,
she had not realized that what she had fallen upon was not fuzzy
carpet at all, it had been a person! “Oh my!” she
exclaimed, lost for words she tried to make out an apology, “I
didn’t realize... I’m so sorry… I didn’t
think…” trying to hide the irritation in his voice,
Aldwyn muttered, “It is fine, happens all the time…”

Leoma became aware that the voice named ‘Aldwyn’
was very close, and seemed to be hovering over her. She looked up in
hopes to see some sort of figure, but only found the same deep
blackness. Then unexpectedly, a dim light bulb started to flicker
above, soon the room was faintly filled with light. Leoma looked
around this strange place in utter awe. The ceiling was completely
covered in bright green grass, and she found the walls covered in
dark, rich, mud. In the corner of the small room was a hefty bed,
much too big for any one man, with a tattered orange quilt and tiny
green pillow. Next to it lie a small night table with a glass of a
thick orange substance settled inside. On the other side of the room
sat a standing sink with a small mirror mounted above it into the
molded mud. Astounded by the bizarre room she had encountered, she
had forgotten all about the owner, Aldwyn. She frantically searched
the room with her eyes to find this Aldwyn, but she found nothing.
Leoma sat dumb founded, not quite sure what she should do next.
Abruptly Aldwyn’s voice came from behind her scaring her to her
feet saying, “So might I ask what your name is human?”
Leoma turned to see the face of Aldwyn and what she saw left her
standing there stunned and speechless. Aldwyn was not a man at all.
Right in front of Leoma stood the most colossal creature she had ever
seen. Leoma became frozen in place, as she tried to take all of this
madness in. Aldwyn wasn’t just a creature, he was much more.
Aldwyn stood at what seemed 12 feet tall; he had big black eyes and a
long whiskery nose. The ‘furry carpet’ was all over his
body, and he had long grey ears that touched the grassy ceiling when
he stood up straight. Horrified, Leoma all too slowly realized that
Aldwyn was in fact a giant bunny rabbit.

“Oh please don’t be afraid. I won’t
hurt you, I promise.” Aldwyn said, as he watched Leoma’s
scared face shriveled into a cringe. “I am most civilized, and
a vegetarian.”

Leoma could here the sincerity in Aldwyn’s
voice and tried to relax. “…but ... how… how did
you get so… big? And you’re talking! Why are you
talking? I must be dreaming. This isn’t possible. I must wake
up I must wake up!” she cried, slowly going into hysterics.

“Yes I guess I am quite larger than your
average pet store rabbit, but what did you expect when you decided to
hop down my hole?” Aldwyn calmly replied.

“Hop down?! I did no such thing. I must
have simply fallen. What is YOUR hole doing in MY backyard?”

“Well I have to start somewhere.”
Aldwyn said in an un-happy voice.

Leoma studied Aldwyn’s troubled
expression and suddenly felt regret for screeching at him like that.
“I guess you have the right. I really don’t mind. I’m
just a little stunned right now I guess.”

“I understand. Its not everyday you come
across a man inside a bunny suit living underground in a giant hole.”

Leoma nodded in agreement, but then was taken
back when she realized what Aldwyn had just said. “Wait…
did you say ‘man in a bunny suit?” what does that mean?
Your not a giant rabbit?!”

Aldwyn paused to think of the right way to put
things, “well technically no. I am giant, but I was not born a
rabbit. It’s a long story very complicated, you probably
wouldn’t understand. To make it short, I can’t take the
suit off. It is physically impossible. Therefore I have devoted my
life to that of a real rabbit.”

This was to much for Leoma to handle. She was
so shaken up; she didn’t know what to do with herself. How long
had Aldwyn been living down here? Right under her feet, she had no
idea! She had to get out of there. It must be a dream. This was too
much for her to handle. But how was she to get out?! Obviously she
had fallen down into the hole, so that meant she had to find a way up
out of it.

She thrust herself forward onto the dirt embedded
walls, and ravenously clawed at them in attempt to climb out of the
hole. After many frustrating minutes she gave up and plopped herself
onto Aldwyn’s creaky old bed and started to cry.

“Oh dear,” Mumbled Aldwyn as he
rushed over to comfort the girl, “it will be alright human, I
can help you out.”

Leoma looked up into the big black eyes, tears
dwelling in her own, “you will? Really?”

“Well of course.” Replied Aldwyn
and squeezed the girl into a comforting hug.

“I’m so sorry I fell onto you
earlier. I had no idea; I guess I need to pay more attention to where
I walk.” Leoma said regretfully.

“Don’t you worry about it, now lets
get you home before I scare you anymore.”

“Yes, that sounds good. Thank you.”

“Yes, I will help you, but only on one
condition.” Aldwyn looked down upon Leoma with a strong serious
face.

“Sure…What is it?” Leoma
replied not so sure of what to expect.

“You promise me you will come down here
again so we can talk. It gets so lonely down here. I can tell you are
frightened, but maybe after you get back up to your world and think
about it, you will feel comfortable enough to come visit. I know that
we don’t know much about each other, but you must trust me when
I say that I am only a kind bunny rabbit and only want some company.”

Leoma pondered this for a moment thinking, well
he does seem very nice, and I guess its my only choice. So she
agreed. Aldwyn smiled and handed her the glass containing the orange
substance from off his night stand. She sniffed it wondering what it
could possibly have such a strong smell and bright color. She slowly
raised the glass to her dry lips and began to sip. Carrot juice!
Aldwyn told her to drink it all, to help her to become more
stabilized. Leoma drank the juice until it was all gone. Not a moment
after the last drop had been sucked clean from the glass, Leoma felt
a vast exhaustion come over her mind and body. She fought to keep her
eyelids open until she couldn’t bear it any longer, and
silently slipped off into another world.

When she woke she found that she was lying in
the warm sun just outside of her house. She stretched her stiff legs,
and yawned. She looked around and realized that she must have dozed
off while playing with her cousins. “What an odd dream,”
she garbled aloud. Had it been a dream? She stood up and searched the
ground. She could find no rabbit hole of any kind. Confused she
decided that it must have been her imagination, and reached up to
wipe away at something that was playing on her lips. As she pulled
her hand away she saw a little smear of an orange liquid. “Carrot
juice” she smirked.

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